American Exceptualism Rudy
Giuliani was espousing his opinion to Fox News that Barack Obama did not
love America and didn’t brag enough about “American Exceptionalism.”

Fur Is Not Chic When my 25-pound
dog stepped in a toothed steel leg hold trap a few ft off the trail, I
learned how “unchic” fur is. I had to carry her out two miles to get to a
vet.

Which Is More Dangerous? Just
a couple of thoughts I had in response to the letters by Gordon Lee
Dean and Jarin Weber in the Feb. 23 issue. Mr. Dean claims that there
have been zero deaths from the measles in the past ten years.

Real Action on Climate In
“Climate Madness” in the Feb. 9 issue, the writer points out that
scientists are all but unanimous and that large numbers of people agree:
global warming poses a threat to future generations.

Real Science Wolfgang
Pauli, the Nobel Prize winning Austrian-born theoretical physicist, was
known not only for his work in postulating the existence of the
neutrino but feared for his razor-edged humor.

Robert Downes

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
Are you a spiritual person? This being our annual Mind-Body-Spirit issue, it seems a good time to ask.What does it mean to be spiritual?Thats a question my generation has struggled with since the 60s, when we read Siddhartha in college, discovered yoga, transcendental meditation, the I Ching, turned Jesus freak, joined communes... But, being Americans, our quest was more about style than substance, so when the next big thing came along (disco, the Me Generation, the running boom, Reaganism... ), we bailed out on spirituality.Plus, no one could ever quite figure out what it was to be spiritual, other than acting kind of dreamy and yearning to live up there in a disembodied existence, as vacant as a glass of water in Buddhas kitchen. The rock group Procol Harum summed-up the mumbo-jumbo of the spiritual quest in their song about a wise old yogi telling a young seeker the meaning of life: Oh, my son -- life is like a beanstalk, isnt it? Right.

FeaturesRobert Downes
Stretch out on one of the thermal massage beds at Migun of Northern Michigan and youll find yourself immersed in an oohs! and ahhs! sensation, like a warm jade roller coaster trickling up and down your spine.A series of five jade massage heads move up and down a belt, traveling your back from head to toe as you lie in the twilight of a quiet room. Infrared heat radiates through the bulbs, penetrating as much as five inches into your body, stimulating your muscles, nerves and bloodstream. After 35 minutes of deep tissue ecstasy, you arise, as limp and relaxed as a wet rice noodle.

BooksRobert Downes
Anne-Marie Oomen is one of those irresistible writers whose work always packs a surprise. A poet and a playwright with the easyAA warmth that comes from a country upbringing, she weaves an endlessly inventive orbit, enveloping the sphere of life in rural Northern Michigan. Her latest work is Uncoded Woman, a collection of more than 60 poems. The poems tell the story of a young woman named Bead, who is running away from her life in a stolen pickup.Bead (short for Beatrice) seems to be seeking shelter from the storm of her life with a new beginning along the coast of Lake Michigan. She picks up a Native American hitch-hiker named Barn and accepts his invitation to stay at his trailer in the Glen Arbor area (we know because they have charred burgers at Arts Bar). Under her new friends guidance, Bead renews her life, learning to fish on Lake Michigan.Accompanying each poem is a semaphore message from the maritime International Code of Symbols used to signal ships at sea in the days before radio. Bead stumbles across the codebook at the lifesaving station in Glen Haven in Leelanau County and recognizes its blunt signals as metaphors for the perplexities of her own life. When she discovers a body floating in the lake, the cumulative codes help build a sense of drama and suspense in the readers mind. The mystery forces Bead to face her own demons. How will she decode her own life?

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
As a former smoker, I cant say enough bad things about this evil addiction. It kills 500,000 Americans every year and is surely as addictive as heroin. In a rational world, smoking would be outlawed completely as being as dangerous as cocaine in the long run.And yet, I couldnt help but breathe a sigh of relief when Grand Traverse County voted against taking the steps which would result in a county-wide ordinance to ban smoking in public places.Why? Because as county commissioner Dick Thomas stated in a recent Record-Eagle article, such a ban would mean more big brotherism. And brother, weve got too much of that in America as it is.Unfortunately, theres a streak of neo-puritanism that runs deep in our country which knows no ideology. For every conservative whos worried about what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom, theres a progressive counterpart hell-bent on legislating morality for your own good. And both political camps tend to have paid, professional advocates working full time to chip away at individual liberties.

FeaturesRobert Downes
Desperate out-of-work men, bare their souls (and other stuff) to make money to feed their families in a tough economy. Sounds like Michigan, doesnt it? In fact, The Full Monty, being staged this week at the Old Town Playhouse (OTP) in Traverse City strikes close to home when you consider that Michigan has been stripped of 25% of its manufacturing jobs since the late 90s.In the original film, a group of laid-off British steelworkers decide to stage a burlesque show to raise funds to feed their families. Theyre inspired by their wives, who enjoy watching male strip shows on girls night out. The suspense in the film builds on whether the guys will have the guts to drop their trousers at the end of the show.That will they or wont they? question is part of the tease for OTPs musical version of the film. In any event, the play has some interesting parallels to Michigans own plight; its not hard to imagine a group of laid-off factory workers in Northern Michigan resorting to the same gambit.The Full Monty was Americanized when the film became a musical, says director Michelle Dungjen. Its set in Buffalo, New York, so there are some parallels that are ironic to what Michigan is going through.

BooksRobert Downes
Got EnergyMoving away from fossil fuels and nuclear power is the goal of author Hermann Scheer, whose book, Energy Autonomy (EARTHSCAN 2007) finds the solution in a scattershot reliance on renewable energy schemes.A member of the German Bundestag (parliament) and president of the European Association for Renewable Energy, the author is also chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy.With credentials like those, its no wonder Scheer is passionate in the search for alternative sources of power, including biofuels, solar and wind power, to replace the destructive aspects of burning coal or building new nuclear power plants. Scheer argues for a decentralized approach to providing local power, using renewable sources that are close to home.Energy Autonomy is not an easy read; its scholarly in tone and Scheer lacks Al Gores skill at putting zest in his subject. Perhaps its the translation. But if youre charged up over the quest for a new way to power the world, this Hero for the Green Century (Time Magazine) offers an encyclopedic overview.

MusicRobert Downes
If you were into the local nightclub scene in the 80s and 90s, then chances are you busted a few moves with The Crowd Pleasers, who were the uncrowned kings of traveling show bands in the Midwest. Based out of Columbus, Ohio and playing a circuit of Holiday Inns and other venues throughout Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, The Crowd Pleasers performed countless dates in Northern Michigan. The seven-man group energized crowds with their brand of R&B, funk and soul, with an extra kick from a horn section that gave the band an irresistible dance groove.

Americans have never been keen on taxes, going back to the days of the Boston Tea Party. And the anti-tax mantra has accelerated since the presidency of Ronald Reagan to the point where any suggestion of raising taxes has become a cardinal sin. It doesn‘t help that government often wastes our tax dollars with an obscene ineptitude. For instance, the news last week that $9 billion of our tax dollars have gone missing in Iraq. Turns out that the Bush administration bundled up 363 tons of cash in bricks of $100 bills and flew it to Iraq during the early days of the war to help with reconstruction. Then the money simply... disappeared. Apparently, people (including contractors already on our payroll) just showed up in Baghdad with garbage bags and shoveled in the loot under any pretense, with no accountability. So who can blame Michigan citizens for grumbling over the news that Governor Granholm has proposed a 2% tax on services to help balance the state‘s budget? The services would include everything from haircuts to auto repairs, lawyers, accountants and movie and concert tickets.

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
Stumbled across a good book over the holidays. A real page-turner; couldnt put it down. Even got up at 6 a.m. one weekend to read more. That doesnt usually happen when a book was written more than 2,000 years ago. Its The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar, written during his conquest of Europe during 58-51 B.C. And what Julius went through back then seems eerily familiar today. In those days the area of Europe including France, Switzerland and the Netherlands was known as Gaul. Caesar led his Roman legions against dozens of tribes, some of which raised armies of 60,000-100,000 warriors, hellbent on protecting their homeland.

MusicRobert Downes
In the real world, Jeff Jabo Bihlman teaches blues-rock guitar to a few dozen students in Northern Michigan. Meanwhile, in cyberspace, hes also teaching thousands, thanks to a new online guitar series at www.workshoplive.com.The frontman for the popular Bihlman Brothers blues band, Jeff also has a new role as the star of a 30-minute infomercial thats playing on TV in major cities across the nation, such as Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, and both coasts. Plus, hes featured on a concert DVD being used to promote the new online teaching method thats advanced far beyond similar sites on the Internet.And the biggest news of all. The Bihlman Brothers just signed a three-record deal with legendary Hollywood producer Bruce Robb on his brand new record label, Quarter to 3.

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
Ever wonder why prescription drugs cost so much in America when theyre so much cheaper in countries such as Canada?Do you have prescription drug costs ranging into the thousands of dollars each year? Are you elderly and living on a limited income? Do you have to choose between buying the drugs that will save your life or paying for food and heat?Well, tough beans. Because according to conservative pundits, you are nothing more than a greedy granny, trying to get Uncle Sam or his Canadian counterpart to lend a hand when you should be paying through the nose like everyone else.

FeaturesRobert Downes
“Sky, an immature bald eagle, was first spotted lying dazed and dying on a rock in the middle of a river near Pellston last August 17 by a sharp-eyed DNR officer.The young female was apparently suffering from the effects of West Nile Virus, a neurological disease spread by mosquitoes which kills most birds.

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
To Blog or Not to Blog?I got you something really nice for Christmas this year that you wont get from almost any other forward-thinking newspaper editor in the country.What is it? Take a guess. Give up? Okay, here it is. Im going to spare you the torture of reading an Editors Blog.Blogging is the new hot trend in journalism, even though there are millions of blogs in cyberspace already, wiggling like mental spermatozoa in search of a brain to fertilize. Blogs from editors and reporters are hatching on newspaper websites like a bogful of frog eggs. And mostly, they‘re about as tasty.

Random ThoughtsRobert Downes
Tis the season to get back in the gym. Some of us have never left it; weve been noodling at stairmasters and weights, aerobics and yoga all year long in a lackluster way, waiting for our winter cousins to show up for their annual visit, which tends to run from January through April.It can get downright lonely in the gym during the heat of the summer, but after the New Year, the place is packed with stinky people once again and its hard to find a stray machine in need of company. Every stairmaster, treadmill and exercycle is hammering like an 18-cylinder sports car.

MusicRobert Downes
Bass man T. Money Green has a lot of friends: Beside the 2,277 listed on his MySpace site, hes also pals with the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and many of the biggest rap, funk and R&B stars in the world.In fact, hes played with many of those super stars on scores of gold and platinum albums.In short, Tony Green is a big, friendly guy who can play the nuts off a squirrel in a high-energy funk show thats full of special guests, humor and top-flight musicianship. For proof of that, check him out New Years Eve when he and his Road Work band play Streeters Bar & Grille in Traverse City.